Quick Look: Ticket To Ride Alexa Skill

What’s it like playing the classic train game with a virtual assistant?

Well, we’ve done it! Technology has finally allowed us to play without the need of friends or family. Are we really ready to give up social interaction and gatherings to play our favorite games with virtual assistants? In this new age of needed distancing and volunteered isolation, we may have to look to these new forms of A.I. to help us get a quick session or two of our favorite board games, if they happen to have a handy app or skill available to do so.

In the case of Days of Wonder’s Ticket to Ride, we have Alexa to fill in a seat at the table.

The future is now, people!!

alexa, launch ticket to ride

If you happen to have a physical copy of Ticket to Ride, but don’t have anyone to play with, but you do have an Alexa enabled device, you’re in luck, you have someone to play with! The skill is easily added to a device, in my case the Echo Show, and simply stating “Alexa, launch Ticket to Ride” will pop up the skill ready to be used. It’s imperative that you say “launch” when calling up the skill, otherwise the Beatles’ own Ticket to Ride song will send you over to a station, or for fierce Beatles fans, their own music library. A small quibble to remember, but repetition irons it out.

Once engaged, the skill will open up the game to a cheerful, saloon-esque soundtrack. It permeates throughout the skill. Banjos, the distinct timbre of upright pianos, and slow strumming from acoustic guitars, the music here definitely lends itself well to the theme and time TTR is set. As the game choo-choos along, the soundtrack chugs along with it. I like it, but others might find it distracting.

At the top menu, Alexa dutifully calls out some questions for set up, like how many players are playing and picking out her own destination tickets. The skill then goes through some of the commands that you can call out for the game. If you’ve used an Alexa enabled device, you’ll soon be calling out the familiar key phrase to activate it. For example you can:

Declare a specific route any player has taken
Undo a route you’ve taken by mistake
Ask for the current score
Ask for how many train pieces each player has

At any point Alexa will point out errors that might occur, like mistaking two cities that are not connected when stating a route you want, or if she has misunderstood a command you’ve given her. She’ll even make sure what version of TTR you’re playing to award the correct points. It’s fairly straightforward, but I’ve found the voice recognition to be 80% correct when playing. It does help to be close to the device, so maybe my experience is unique to my table placement considering our room size and distance from the Echo Show.

But, all that’s nice. How is Alexa as a player?

the board game singularity

Once you’ve found a rhythm and start getting along with the skill, you’ll focus more on the game and find Alexa to be a worthwhile competitor. She’ll keep to her side trying to achieve her destination tickets, and since you know what they are since you’ll recite them at the beginning of the game, you can be as mean or easy going on her as you want. However, once in a while she will throw a curve ball at you.

There are times when her Terminator instincts kick in and she will block your route with a timely placed train of hers. She did this at the end of a game, where a single train she placed, between Seattle and Portland, ruined my chance at completing a huge destination ticket. After the fact, she even taunted me knowing full well what she did. I was surprised, mouth agape at the tenacity of the program. I found it refreshing.

It’s not a full-on war of attrition, but knowing there is the ability to be “mean” written in the code gives TTR a good bit of a competitive edge. I started to play the games after a bit more carefully and deliberate in trying to finish my important routes first, in case Alexa felt my existence needed to be shortened some. Overall, it makes playing against Alexa less than a formality and more of a friendly spat between chums.

towards the horizon

Having a skill that allows for a quick game of Ticket to Ride is like having a forgotten dollar in the recess of your pocket; It’s a surprise when you find it, and you instantly want to spend it. I was a bit skeptical about using Alexa, let alone a device that sometimes can’t understand when I want to listen to Hall and Oats instead of giving me a recipe for hulled oats. Yet, here I am saying that, of all things, an Alexa skill actually has merit in joining in a quick session of a board game many people love.

First, it’s free to use so long as you already have a physical copy of TTR. Once installed, it’s streamlined enough where you can start playing in minutes. Then, it has enough gumption to compete, and at times, be harsh to eke out a win. Sure it has its hiccups, but overall, it’s polished enough where those errors are few and far between. If it were refined even more, I’m sure people would be using the skill even more and maybe with a full group of players.

If you happen to have an Alexa enabled device, hey why not give it a shot? You might be surprised to find out how capable the skill is, and maybe even give you enough of a sweat to make winning something of an accomplishment.